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Battle-Drink BINGO Drinking Game: 2013 NFL Draft Edition

Back when the NFL Draft was a Saturday/Sunday affair, I had a couple buddies (brothers, actually, what up Andrew and Brock?) who used to gather with some of their other friends for the entire weekend and make a huge party out of the draft. We're talking kegs, entire animals cooked on an open fire, g ... More >>

Monday Night Football Cavalcade Of Errors, Starring Rick Reilly!

Something amazing happened last night during ESPN's coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 16-13 overtime atrocity win over the lowly Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. It wasn't the Chiefs' miraculously hanging well within the 12 point spread on this game (obliterating degenerate teaser bets every ... More >>

Texans-Jets: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets From Monday Night Football

Houston has a professional football team, called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them; some are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media; one is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of them are rappers. Like last week, we perused Twitter during Monday night's game a ... More >>

Why the NFL Got Boring (for Me) and How to Get Over Your Football Addiction

Last Sunday, a strange thing happened. I woke up, did some reading, worked on a few stories, talked to some friends on the telephone for a while, went to the gym, made dinner and got back into bed, thinking, "Not a bad day." And then I realized it: I hadn't watched football. Hadn't even thought to. ... More >>

ESPNU To Launch New Talk Show, So Let's Zapruder Some 1993 Sportsnight Footage From ESPN2

Every now and then, because it's the "worldwide leader in sports" and can get away with random programming heat checks whenever it wants, ESPN will try and force-feed the viewing public some ill-fated attempt to blend sports and pop culture. Examples include: - Who's Now?, an ongoing feature a fe ... More >>

Tale of the Tape: LeBron James's Alley-Oop vs Blake Griffin's Facial (w/ VIDEO)

I wake up at about 4:15 a.m. each weekday morning to head to the studio and do my radio show on 1560 The Game (also, shameless plug, simulcast on television on Comcast 129), so many nights I go to bed before the sports world has shut it down for the evening. My tool to catch up on things when I wak ... More >>

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Year Just Past In Cougar Sports

John RoyalCase Keenum was the Man of the Year for the Cougars​Yes, it's that time of year. That time of year when I take a look back at the year just past. On Friday, I looked back at the sports year for the Rice Owls. Today, let's take a look at the top 25 events, in no particular order, f ... More >>

Who Needs Tim Tebow When You Have T.J. Yates (Or Just About Any Other NFL Quarterback)?

The only proper usage of Tebowing.​Vince Young was not who Jeff Fisher wanted to draft in 2006. His choice for the future quarterback of the Tennessee Titans was Jay Cutler. Bud Adams wanted Young, so Young became a Titan. Young was the 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year as the Titans we ... More >>

Boom. Penn State Fires Joe Paterno (w/ a VIDEO chronology) & CNN Kicks ESPN's Butt

They are...Penn State​"Joe Paterno is no longer the head football coach, effective immediately." -- John Surma, Vice Chair, Penn State Board of Trustees Boom. Nothing is forever. We all knew there would be a day when Joe Paterno would no longer be the coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. ... More >>

The Nine Best Mobile Apps for Fantasy Football Enthusiasts, Ranked

Foster may hate you, but he was still #1 on your draft board this year​Thursday night marks the opening of the NFL season and fantasy nuts are gearing up with Red Bull, nachos, paid NFL television subscriptions and, you guessed it, technology. While I am not in a fantasy league (I have been a ... More >>

Texas Tech's Chancellor Gives Longhorns a Big Middle Finger, Maybe

Other fingers can be used, too.​Everyone who doesn't love burnt orange hates the Longhorn Network, the lucrative collaboration between UT and ESPN. Among those haters: Texas Tech chancellor and former congressman Kent Hance. UT's deal with ESPN calls for one Big 12 conference game to be aire ... More >>

Tales of the Deplorable -- ESPN's Instant Analysis of Depth Chart Ramifications of Alabama Offensiv LIneman's Death

In The Empire Strikes Back, you may remember a scene where Darth Vader, tired of the incompetence of the bumbling Admiral Veers, decides to go ahead and terminate him, permanently, via force choke, and immediately promote Veers' subordinate Captain Piett before they could even move Veers' body out o ... More >>

App of the Week: ESPN ScoreCenter

Even Eric "Sleeping With" Bieniemy would love this app.​App: ESPN ScoreCenter Platforms: iPhone, Adroid Web site: Scorecenter.ESPN.com Cost: Free There are plenty of things to dislike about "the worldwide leader in sports." Like any media behemoth, ESPN tends to fixate on the most bland a ... More >>

The Longhorn Network -- The $300 Million Mystery

Pimp My Bevo, coming soon to your TV​"We want to define what it means to be 'the' public university. The challenge is to create new sources of revenue to support our mission." -- University of Texas President Bill Powers Done and done. Earlier today, the University of Texas and ESPN announc ... More >>

One Guy's Remaining Thoughts On 2010

Thanks to Tron: Legacy for Olivia Wilde in 3D​As we head into the New Year, I thought I would look back at some of the things in 2010 for which I'm thankful, sports, and non-sports. 1. ESPN's 30 For 30.  ESPN does a lot of things wrong, i.e. the Brett Favre lovefest, The Decision, Col ... More >>

Houston's Lindsay McCormick Hits The Big Time -- Dating Mark Sanchez

Mark Sanchez' Houston heartthrob, reportedly​Lindsay McCormick is an ESPN type from Houston who, we have to admit, we've never heard of.But her official bio says she "has appeared on ESPN Streak for the Cash and ESPN College Pick'em on ESPN.com, the MtvU music countdown show The Dean's List, The C ... More >>

Cougars Not Getting Respect From ESPN -- Or Their Own Flagship Station (Updated)

Is this where they got their UH-UTEP announcers from?​I've got an idea for the Houston Cougars. Instead of wasting time going after beat writers for trying to find out health information on players, maybe they should instead use that valuable time for more important things. Like making sure the TV ... More >>

ESPN GameDay Coming To....Waco?

Colleges all over the country drool at the thought of hosting ESPN GameDay. It's a mark of high honor and respect, and students try to outdo each other in raucously cheering on-camera behind the hosts.Baton Rouge, Austin, Gainesville, they've all hosted. And ESPN has now announced that they will be ... More >>

Game Time: Sports Fans Everywhere Pour Out a 40 for Chet Simmons, ESPN's First President

Good night, dear Chet. May choirs of Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders lead you to rest.​As someone whose business career has largely consisted of working for start-up companies, and whose radio career has consisted of starting an afternoon radio show from scratch on a station started from scratch, ... More >>

Game Time: ESPN, For The Sake Of High Comedy, Do Whatever It Takes To Keep Chris Berman

In the end, all we want from any medium of entertainment is to be moved emotionally in one direction or another. Whether that emotion is joy, anger, or sadness, as long as it's removing us from the boredom of our everyday lives in some way, then it is serving a purpose.The late Jim Valvano put it ... More >>

Your New Year's Weekend Sports-Viewing Guide

​So you stayed up a bit late last night doing the whole celebrating the New Year thing. Now your head's aching, the room's spinning, and you just want to flop on the couch and watch some sports. But you don't want to have to think about what sports to watch. That's where I come in. Here's a little ... More >>

25 Things About The Texans-Titans Monday Night Match-Up

​For the second week in a row, it's homecoming week on Monday Night Football. This past Monday, it was the Baltimore Ravens returning to the place from which they came, Cleveland, to play the Browns. This coming Monday, the Tennessee Titans are returning to Houston to take on the Texans.With tha ... More >>

Game Time: Time To Take Over

​I will get the pleasantries out of the way ....My name is Sean Pendergast, and I am a sports talk show host at 1560 The Game.I realize that sentence has the sound and feel of a self-introduction at an AA meeting (and carries with it more similarities than you'd think), but I figure simplicity is ... More >>

The NFL's RedZone: God's Gift To Football Fans

​For a Texas resident, I don't watch a hell of a lot of football. I went to UT, so I'll try to tune in for a significant Big 12 game as opposed to the annual Little Big Horns versus Louisiana-Monroe or Rice.Being a Texans fan makes Sunday especially excruciating, and anyway I -- like many people ... More >>

Being A Fan In Houston Basically Sucks, ESPN Reports

Photo by Bukowsky18ESPN has put together another one of its Best Fan Experience lists, where they rank ballparks, arenas and stadiums for atmosphere, convenience, team success, and other highly arbitrary and pseudo-scientific categories.Houston doesn't come out too well.The top three are the L ... More >>

They're Making A Documentary About The Dome, And They Want Your Family Keepsakes

Via the always-entertaining Bayou City History blog at the Chron we learned of a budding documentary about that quaint old abandoned building that used to be the Eighth Wonder of the World.Chip Rives, one of the producers/directors/writers of The Dome, tells Hair Balls he and his partner have do ... More >>

A Chat With Hannah Storm Of ESPN (And Houston)

Photo courtesy ESPNESPN has been charged for years with having an East Coast bias. ESPN's morning SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm somewhat agrees with that charge, though she says the charge doesn't apply to her show and says that to her, "it is a non-issue." And if she does have any bias, it's pro ... More >>

Design Haters and Soccer lovers

Houston Texans Dime Out Kubiak On Illegal Drills

The people of Houston might want to know just what it is that the city did to anger the people at ESPN. That's the only explanation of which I can think to explain ESPN coming down hard on another Houston sports team. Last summer it was the story of the rapidly aging Miguel Tegada. And this comi ... More >>

Houston Texans Dime Out Kubiak On Illegal Drills

The people of Houston might want to know just what it is that the city did to anger the people at ESPN. That's the only explanation of which I can think to explain ESPN coming down hard on another Houston sports team. Last summer it was the story of the rapidly aging Miguel Tegada. And this comi ... More >>

Playboy's Finalists for Sexiest Sportscaster: Erin Andrews, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi and Molly Sullivan

Playboy.com has named its five finalists for this year's Sexiest Sportscaster. And despite my best efforts, neither Carrie Milbank nor Suzy Kolber got the necessary number of write-in votes to qualify. The finalists are Erin Andrews, of course, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi, ... More >>

Playboy's Finalists for Sexiest Sportscaster: Erin Andrews, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi and Molly Sullivan

Playboy.com has named its five finalists for this year's Sexiest Sportscaster. And despite my best efforts, neither Carrie Milbank nor Suzy Kolber got the necessary number of write-in votes to qualify. The finalists are Erin Andrews, of course, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi, ... More >>

The Mt. Rushmore of Texas Sports

ESPN is about to start on one of those stupid SportsCenter promotion things that has helped to make SportsCenter virtually impossible to watch. But over here at Ballz, we like stupid things - I'm sure that many of you think anything I write is stupid and virtually impossible to read anyway. So I' ... More >>

The Mt. Rushmore of Texas Sports

ESPN is about to start on one of those stupid SportsCenter promotion things that has helped to make SportsCenter virtually impossible to watch. But over here at Ballz, we like stupid things - I'm sure that many of you think anything I write is stupid and virtually impossible to read anyway. So I' ... More >>

No Pressure. It's Just Texas High School Football.

Katy High School was going to play against a Florida team on national TV. Now all it had to do was find a way to win again.

College Football Preview, Zooey Deschanel Edition

Please Don’t Take My SportsCenter

Miracle on the Diamond: Japan Beats the USA in Softball

Not Funny: ESPN Fails to Understand The Daily Show

Erin Andrews Goes from Not Posing Nude in Playboy to Hosting Spelling Bee on ESPN

Astros-Padres: Say Hello to Miguel Tejeda, Who Apparently Hits a Lot Better Than Miguel Tejada

A Day in the Life of Cable Sports Programming

Eff You, Bill Donahue

What to Watch: Football, Hockey, Football and Football

A Call for Calls, or Why I Need My Own Radio Show

Godfrey

This comedian went from pitching sodas to selling out comedy clubs

And Now, Some Hoops

All-Star Weekend culminates with an actual game

Feeling a Draft

Football season never ends